ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

designated in the treaty of 1783 as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia should be at or near Mars Hill; and that from this point the line should be traced south of the St. John to the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River, along the heads of the rivers Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin, which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, substantially as the line was described on the official map, denominated A, which was annexed to the convention.

cut River.

As to the northwesternmost head of ConNorthwesternmost necticut River, Great Britain maintained that Head of Connecti- the treaty meant that head which, of all the heads above the highest point where the river assumes the distinguishing title of the Connecticut, should be found to lie in the most northwesterly direction relative to the main stream. Toward the upper part of the river several streams fall into it from various quarters. Of these streams, two-Halls Stream and Indian Stream, both coming from the northwest-join the main river a little above the true fortyfifth parallel of north latitude, which is the extreme southern point of the boundary of the British possessions assigned by the treaty on that river. The main River Connecticut, however, retains its name and comparative volume far above the junction of these two streams with it, up to a lake called Connecticut Lake, above which there are smaller lakes. The river which issues from Connecticut Lake had, said the British statement, always been known by the sole name of Connecticut River. Great Britain therefore claimed the spring-head of the most northwestern water which found its way into Connecticut Lake as the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, from whence the line was to be traced down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude. Great Britain maintained that no stream which joined the Connecticut River below the point where it was known by that distinctive appellation could be assumed to be the Connecticut River, nor could the head of such a stream be taken as the head of the river itself. If such were the case, the heads of the Rhine would have to be searched for in different parts of Europe instead of in the range of the St. Gothard Mountains, where they had hitherto been taken to be situated. The American commissioner and the American agent under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent were, said the British statement, actually at variance as to the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut

River, the latter having declared for Halls Stream, the former for Indian Stream. The Government of the United States had adopted the views of the agent by adhering to Halls Stream as the boundary now claimed. In this relation the British statement observed that the old forty-fifth parallel, which was erroneously laid down half a mile north of the true latitude on the Connecticut River, crossed Halls Stream above its junction with the Connecticut River. The United States had objected to the general rectification of the boundary along the fortyfifth parallel, but, though they adhered to that objection, they still maintained their claim to Halls Stream. This boundary could never strike the real Connecticut at all. The British claim was that the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River meant the northwesternmost head of waters tributary to Connecticut Lake.

Forty-fifth Parallel of North Latitude.

As to the boundary westward from Connecticut River, the treaty required that the line should be drawn due west on the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude till it struck the St. Lawrence. Of these plain and explicit stipulations, said the British statement, Great Britain desired the strict and faithful execution. In the year 1818, it being discovered that the old line was in many places more or less defective, and that at Rouses Point, near the outlet of Lake Champlain, it was so unusually inaccurate that its rectification would leave the American forts erected there on British territory, the effectual prosecution of the surveys was discontinued, and the American agent in his argument before the commissioners in 1821 maintained that no fresh survey was intended by the treaty of such parts of the boundary as were laid down between the provinces of Quebec and New York while yet both were British, but only of those parts where the line had not already been marked. The American agent at the same time declared that if this fact were not accepted by the commissioners he should be compelled to require the parallel to be laid down according to what he termed the principles of "geocentric latitude" as distinguished from "observed latitude," the practical effect of which would be to throw the forty-fifth parallel thirteen miles farther to the north than the true latitude. The treaty, said the British statement, required a single line, that of the true forty-fifth parallel of north latitude.

American Definitive

Statement.

Both governments presented second or definitive statements to the arbitrator.

The first question at issue between the two governments was, said the American definitive statement, whether the highlands described in the treaty as dividing rivers emptying themselves into the River St. Lawrence from those falling into the Atlantic Ocean actually need not, as the British contention implied, for three-fifths of their extent divide the rivers that were specified. In order to support this extraor dinary pretension it was incumbent on Great Britain, before she assumed to search for the intentions of the negotiators, to show that the terms of the treaty were susceptible of the meaning which she ascribed to them. This she had not attempted, but she had appealed from the letter of the treaty to what was improperly called its spirit. Even admitting that there was some foundation for her position in regard to the terms "Atlantic Ocean" and "highlands," the line claimed by her would still fail to answer the requirements expressly prescribed by the treaty.

Inadmissibility of
British Claim.

The British statement had declared that, Design of the Treaty there being in 1782-83 no certain and acknowlof 1783. edged boundary between Canada and Quebec,

no man knew where the northwest angle of Nova Scotia really was, and that the negotiators therefore proceeded by other modes to express their governments' intention, which was to give to each power entire possession of the rivers having their mouths within its territory. There were, however, said the American definitive statement, at the time of the treaty certain and acknowledged boundaries between Canada and Nova Scotia, and, though the precise spot where the northwest angle of Nova Scotia would be found was not known, it was supposed that all that would be necessary to ascertain it was the mere operation of surveying. The alleged intention of the negotiators was disproved not only by the fact that they established the boundary on specific points, but also by the circumstance that various parts of the boundary, such as the forty-fifth parallel, intersected streams and lakes, thus dividing them between the two countries. All the inconveniences ascribed to such a division of the St. John applied with increased force to the River St. Lawrence and the extensive 5627- -8

countries situated on its waters. In fact, the due north line from the source of the St. Croix crossed no less than three tributary streams of the St. John before it reached Mars Hill.

As to the term "Atlantic Ocean," the AmerTerm "Atlantic ican definitive statement argued at length

Ocean."

that the words "rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean" embraced rivers falling into that ocean through either of i's two inlets, the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, both according to the usual sense of geography, according to common language, and according to official documents. As to the description of the St. Croix in the treaty as having its mouth in the Bay of Fundy, to which the British statement adverted, the American definitive statement maintained, on the strength of various British documents, that the argument was groundless, the terms "Atlantic Ocean," "Atlantic Sea," "Western Ocean," or "Western Sea" having been used in such documents so as to embrace bodies of water in America bearing distinct names, such as Massachusetts Bay, the Bay of Fundy, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In describing the St. Croix the treaty of 1783 had simply adhered to the description found in the grant to Sir William Alexander and in the commissions of the governors of the province, from the language of which it was not advisable to depart.

As to the intentions of the negotiators of 1782-83, the American definitive statement found in the original proposition of the American commissioners conclusive proof that the St. John, though it was therein mentioned as having its mouth in the Bay of Fundy, was classed with the rivers falling into the Atlantic Ocean. In that proposition the boundary was formed on the north "by a line to be drawn from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia along the highlands which divide those rivers which empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean," and on the east "by a line to be drawn along the middle of the St. John River from its source to its mouth in the Bay of Fundy." Obviously the only Atlantic river turned by the highlands at the source of the St. John was the St. John itself.

As to the highlands, the American definiTerm "Highlands." tive statement maintained that the supposition in the British statement that the name "height of land" given to a portion of the highlands dividing the waters of the Connecticut and Kennebec from those of

the St. Lawrence was an appellation peculiarly applicable to that portion was altogether erroneous. The only colorable authority for the supposition was that of Governor Pownall, who used the terms "height of land" and "highland" synony mously, as generic expressions, descriptive of ground separating the sources of rivers. In every British act designating the southern boundary of the province of Quebec, or of Lower Canada, it was described as being along "the highlands which divide," etc.; yet the committee of the executive council of Quebec, in a report of 1787, spoke of it as "the height of land."

As to the fief of Madawaska, the AmeriFief of Madawaska. can definitive statement denied that a grant to a French subject by a French governor of Canada could affect the limits of the United States founded on the charter of Massachusetts Bay. It was notorious that France, at the time of the British conquest of Canada, claimed the whole of the country watered by the River St. John and its tributary streams as a part of New France, and doubtless many French grants were made below the southern boundary of the British province of Canada. How far these grants were respected was best known to Great Britain. The fact that the last French possessor of the fief of Madawaska had the sagacity to dispose of his claim, just after the conquest, to the first British governor of Quebec probably was the reason why this solitary grant had escaped the general wreck of French concessions in that quarter. But, though the grant was held by a feudal tenure, it did not appear that the British purchasers had ever performed any of the conditions pertaining to such tenure in relation to the government of Quebec or of Lower Canada. No acts of jurisdiction appeared to have been exercised over the fief by either of those governments. In reality, the only basis of the claim of acts of jurisdiction was the fact that certain transfers or leases relating to the fief between British subjects were recorded in an office in Quebec, in which it was shown that French concessions known to be without the boundaries of the province had also been admitted to record.

Examples were quoted from Pownall's Middle British American Colonies, published in 1776, pp. 10, 13, 17, etc. Extracts are also made from McKenzie's History of the Fur Trade, published in 1802, pp. 28, 32, 35, 40, etc.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »